It was a nice surprise to get a call from Dominique with the news that one of her clients had just purchased this painting for their home. I was in the Colorado mountains at the time with views of a snowy paradise all around and the gallery call just capped an already perfect day. Thank you!

Here are the earlier blog notes describing this painting:

I was visiting a friend in the Baltimore area some years ago and came across a photo from that trip, a small stand of trees at the edge of a lake. The photograph was very different, with even lighting and all green foliage.

Regardless, I liked the composition and began the painting with a somewhat subdued palette. After a few sessions, the painting evolved into scene with the light coming in from the back, accentuating the dark trunks in the foreground,

There is a lot of color involved, each with its own part of the tapestry. Earlier, the foreground was darker with more blues but I later opted for a soft carpet of jewel tones spaced among the slightly glowing greens.

At this point, the subdued palette idea went out the window once I added the more powerful colors to the wall of trees beyond the lake. It was a delight to push the color back there and now I'll pass it onto you.

Thursday, December 20, 2018

It is good to have a series of paintings to work through, In this 11th Saccade, a very textural painting developed because I worked over another from 4-5 years ago. The heavy impasto took me back to those Monet's and it was a joy to create a forest with all of that ready-made texture.

The purpose of the Saccades is to create a painting without a singular point of interest. It presents a number of problems, first being that all the areas on the canvas are equally interesting. This is a good practice for most paintings anyway, so this oil puts that idea to task.

There is the additional game in play here and that is depth. The viewer gets the impression of being in the darker part of the forest looking out. The light is there, but nothing much is revealed.

There is this considerable forest pattern effect across the 4 x 5 foot space. It has an abundance of complexity and juuuuust enough depth to be an intriguing presence on the wall.

About the Saccades Series shown here:
"Since the late 19th century, researchers have been aware of the phenomenon of saccades, the rapid movement of the eye as we shift our attention from one thing to another. As a result, vision itself is discontinuous. We construct a “map of reality” from saccades much as a film editor puts together a scene from individual camera takes." From an article by the film maker Errol Morris, NY Times

Monday, December 17, 2018

Sometimes you just want to do a painting in a different way. This #II version is very similar to the first version below and the obvious difference is the yellow color shift. With this newer version, I opted for more open brush work and it yields a different quality to all of the elements in the scene.

Each time a new work is started, it presents new opportunities for learning and experimentation and as these two works show, so-called small changes can produce big effects.

Friday, November 30, 2018

My dear thanks to the couple that purchased this work for their new home.

This particular oil wasn't easy but it wasn't made to be. I wanted a row of red trees showing through a lattice of tree trunks and foliage. Simple enough, but many of these elements began to take on a 'need' for the light to filter through in various ways, leaving a lot of possible options.

Another consideration presented itself: how much front to back depth should I allow? I went for a number of layers of depth in the foreground and out beyond the red trees. This was going to be a intricate forest, so how to keep it interesting?

Complexities continued to be added but I kept to the idea of light illuminating that line of red trees. Knowing what the painting is about is very important. In this case, that knowledge kept me from getting lost in a convoluted forest.

It took numerous sessions to complete, with the final two in the company of Terry, who flew in for private lessons. A lot of information was imparted with this oil as different colors and compositional elements were tried. It was a bit of a circus at times with all of the artful juggling, but an enjoyable process as all the elements finally found their optimal places and the painting was declared done.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

View the videoTo begin, I followed my fascination with these delicate trees and the the limb patterns. A number of colors were initially blocked in and as the painting progressed, the blue/greens began to dominate.

Once the purples and pinks were added, the entire composition began to come together. It's not quite monochromatic and it's not really evening, but some condition between light and dark. I purposely left that bit of yellow light at the waters edge to help the composition and raise the question of how that can happen. And another question: Is that water?

Everything here is ambiguous by design. The painting just evolved that way and I followed it along, revealing some of the mysteries and leaving others. It's more satisfying that way, not knowing of everything in the forest.

Monday, November 19, 2018

November News:

We are fully in the season here in Colorado and what an inspiring time of year. While in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I spotted a moose just outside the living room window, apparently taking a little break!

Here is a summary of exhibitions, two new workshops for 2019, and a few of my works exhibiting around the country. I would like to add my many thanks to those that have placed my art in public venues and have added me to their personal collections.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Ken

Openings:

Denver, COSaks GalleriesWinter Fest
Saturday, December 8, 11am-3pm.
A group show with Holiday music and refreshments.

New Canaan, CTSorelle Gallery, a 2-person show. Light Effects with Alina B., through Dec 10.
A number of new works with be exhibited, including my 3 x 10 ft. oil, Forest Sequence I.

Take your work to new heights. These workshops and private sessions will focus on strategies for making better paintings, going to new places in your work and making fine art. We will be going deeper into making better and more appealing artworks with a variety of strategies including Photoshop insights made easy. all workshop info

Hope to see you at these Fine Art Workshops. You will receive information that will last a lifetime.

Publications:

A Survey of Paintings and Prints at the PACE Center
with works in oils, pastels and monotypes. This exhibition catalog can be purchased online here.
30 color pages and text by the artist. $10 plus $4 postage.

Ken ElliottAmerican Landscapes coffee table book:

This large coffee table book reprises 25 years of my works in oil, pastel, monotype, etching and collage.Large, coffee table hardback version, 11 x 13 inches, 94 color pages with essays. Book and a signed giclee print of the cover image: $150 or just order the book for $115.

Also available as an iBook / download on Apple devices for $9.99.You can preview the complete book and how to order your electronic or hardback versions from my website.

My Blog, For the Color

Want to follow along in my studio?
Come across some interesting art bits and intriguing posts from elsewhere? Check out my artist's blog: For the Color and on the right of the blog under Followers, click Join this Site. Right now you can view vintage videos of Renoir, Degas, a Piet Mondrian video montage, comments about my works and observations about museum artworks from some recent trips.

View my newest artworks:

This monthly newsletter is the best way to stay up to date with my new works and events. You can also follow me on Facebook and go more in depth with my blog, For the Color. To view the total of my works in all media and in all my galleries, go to www.kenelliott.com

Limited to 8 artists, $390 each. More information and registration on the website.

Open to artists in all media.

Contact Ken about possible transportation arrangements
.This is a new, advanced version of Ken's Making it Fine Art Workshop. We will be going deeper into making better and more appealing artworks with a variety of strategies and with Photoshop insights made easy.
Limited to 6 artists, $390 each.Contact Ken

Sunday, November 18, 2018

This oil started with that bright yellow sky. Since this is a 24 x 24 image, things can happen really fast and they did! I was searching for a means to create the opposite of that bright sky, something dark, by using a line of colorful trees.

A number of tree patterns came and went until the present shape emerged with that dark reveal at the base of the trees. The foreground went through of permutations as well, with a number of complex to simple arrangements being tried out.

At one point during the creation of this I realized that despite the scale, the time involved was the same as a much larger oil. It was still a 500 piece puzzle, so to speak, but the pieces were just smaller.

The work finally started to come together with the addition of the hot pink and purple in the distant hill and a generous about of ochres and yellows everywhere.

I thought it was done and left it for a couple of days, but seeing it fresh in the studio again it came off just a bit too monochromatic, so the greens and blues were added just under the base of the trees and at the bit of standing water in the lower left.

Friday, November 9, 2018

I was visiting a friend in the Baltimore area some years ago and came across a photo from that trip, a small stand of trees at the edge of a lake. The photograph was very different, with even lighting and all green foliage.

Regardless, I liked the composition and began the painting with a somewhat subdued palette. After a few sessions, the painting evolved into scene with the light coming in from the back, accentuating the dark trunks in the foreground,

There is a lot of color involved, each with its own part of the tapestry. Earlier, the foreground was darker with more blues but I later opted for a soft carpet of jewel tones spaced among the slightly glowing greens.

At this point the subdued palette idea went out the window once I added the more powerful colors to the wall of trees beyond the lake. It was a delight to push the color back there and now I'll pass it onto you.

This is a canvas demonstration from a workshop I did in Kansas City. I wanted to do a simple, red line of trees, somewhat abstracted and with varying degrees of complexity to make it convincing.

As it turns out, this oil is much more than red trees because the reds are supported and amplified by a variety of other, non-red colors. The orange and pink notes at the base of the trees provide an unexpected light source and interest.

The white clouds on the upper right were accidental. When I was painting in the sky, I left that area open, leaving the white canvas. My intention was to add some kind of tree highlight into that space but the bit of white was much more interesting, so clouds it became with the white contrast helping the reds stand out even more. It was very helpful to have an interesting element on that side of the oil.

The black trunks on the bottom left boost the reds further and add a much needed contrast and definition to the composition.

Again, this is a simple idea but as the painting progressed in class, it became apparent that it would take additional sessions in the studio back home where I continued my own painting lessons until it was complete.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

What a surprise and thrill to have a dear friend purchase a large artwork for their home... I felt much honored. I really enjoy the freedom of these somewhat abstracted forest scenes.

The idea of this Saccades series is to create a more abstracted forest scene that works without a singular point of focus. This oil is pattern and color with equal interest everywhere. The greens and yellows are pushed but contained by the irregular verticals and the blues. I found that the more those colors were increased, the more attractive the oil became, creating a greater need for more powerful contrasts.

This cycle carried on for a month until a completed the painting emerged, a window into a forest that is alive with the yellows animating the scene and projecting everything forward in the space.

About the word Saccades:"Since the late 19th century, researchers have been aware of the phenomenon of saccades, the rapid movement of the eye as we shift our attention from one thing to another. As a result, vision itself is discontinuous. We construct a “map of reality” from saccades much as a film editor puts together a scene from individual camera takes."

Sunday, October 28, 2018

I am pleased to announce an upcoming, 2-person show, Light Effects with Alina B. this November 8 at the Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT.
A number of new works with be exhibiting, including my 3 x 10 ft. oil, Forest Sequence I (see below). The show continues through Dec 10.

Monday, October 22, 2018

I was very interested in red today, or more precisely, red on red on red. This oil was started with that in mind and once finished, the ambient light bathes everything in saturated red tones. For a colorist painter, it is a happy day.

One red won't do, otherwise the oil would become monotonous like one note over and over again on the piano. Instead, slightly different reds create an attractive disharmony, like a chord containing a sharp or flat note... a bit complicated and more orchestral or jazzy.

Friday, October 12, 2018

In this pastel I've revisited an idea from some years ago. The colors are accentuated except in the middle snow and the foreground trees.

Every part of this pastel has interesting notes and to get there, I kept working the different areas to bring them to life with rich color and soft overlays.

The pastel looks fairly bright but it really is how the richer colors are emerging from the grey tones. It was a bit of an adventure, although on a smaller scale to pull it all together and I can honestly say that it was years in the making.

About Me

Ken Elliott works in a variety of media: oils, pastels, monotypes, etchings and collages. His work is in numerous public and private collections in the US and throughout the world.
Some of his landscape paintings and pastels are reproduced as dramatic giclee prints.
Email:
Website: www.kenelliott.com
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